Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Review: Best Thing About the Game is the Trent Reznor Soundtrack

Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the ninth game in the Call of Duty franchise, will be released on November 13. The first-person shooter game for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows is the sequel to the 2010 game Call of Duty Black Ops, and the first game in the Call of Duty Franchise to feature future warfare technology —as well as the first ever to feature story lines controlled by the player.

"[...] As always, the game will be instantly familiar to any fans of the franchise but Treyarch has done well to introduce some fantastic new elements. The latest addition that is sure to please the fans, particularly those who struggle to keep up in battle, will be the ability to “shoutcast.” At any point before the game begins, one player can choose to relieve himself of playing duties and become a shoutcaster, which is essentially someone that has the ability to look over the entire place and provide commentary of what is going on in what part of the map. The shoutcaster will be provided with visual cues as to what is going on where, making analysis as simple as scrolling across a screen.

The game also employs a League system, where players will be automatically matched up with people of similar skill level. Whether you are a legend or just plain terrible, you will be placed in one of seven classes and how well or badly you perform will decide where you move in the rankings. Finally, there will be a way for you to always be a spectator across numerous devices, ensuring that there is an alternative to playing. As for the gameplay and multiplayer itself, Call of Duty has already done virtually everything so the entire game is really just a variation of past successes but the story is now unique in that it is both past and future simultaneously, with branching storylines. Also, as one thing that might bug people while exhilarating others, it even incorporates some elements of real-time strategy in that you can control things from a sky-view point rather than the foot soldiers themselves. Of course, this happens sporadically and the game still stays very true to its shooter roots."

Call of Duty: Black Ops II also feautures music by Nine Inch Nail's Trent Reznor, who composed the music for the films The Social Network (for which he won an Academy Award) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.Check out the track below: